Join me on my travels through the small towns and ghost towns, museums and libraries of Texas, New Mexico and Colorado as I explore the history, legends, and tall tales of the American Southwest.
Flooding in Kingsland, Texas. Photo copyright owned by Darla Sue Dollman.
Sad to say, I am intimately familiar with floods. When my husband and I first traveled to Texas in June of 2007 we spent three days looking for a home. We signed a contract on a beautiful, circular hillside house and started on the drive back. When we reached Oklahoma, my daughter called. "The town you are moving to is flooded!" she said. We turned to the news on the radio. Sure enough, Marble Falls, Texas was flooding. Marble Falls received 18 inches of rain in a few hours causing massive flooding and 11 deaths. My oldest son was almost swept away in the June, 1997 Spring Creek flood in Fort Collins, Colorado. Details regarding emergency responses to that flood are now used in flash flood training films for emergency responders.
Bubble in the flood. Photo by Darla Sue Dollman.
Colorado has had more than its share of catastrophic flash floods. In fact, one of Colorado's first documented flash floods occurred on May 20, 1864 in Denver City and Auraria. Denver City and Auraria, struggling and competing mining towns, were perched on opposite banks of the Cherry Creek, but they had one thing other mining town's lacked, one thing that bonded the two towns together in a way that eventually caused them to merge--a stubborn and determined newspaper editor named William Newton Byers.
William N. Byers, Publisher of the Rocky Mountain News. Public domain.
William Newton Byers produced his first copy of the Rocky Mountain News on April 23, 1859. He has worked through the night beneath a sagging tarp used to keep the snow falling through holes in the roof off his press. Byers was trying to beat another editor, Jack Merrick, who was set to publish the maiden issue of his newspaper, Cherry Creek Pioneer, on that same day. Byers beat Merrick with the first Denver newspaper copy by 20 minutes and Merrick sold Byers his equipment to join the hoards of prospectors heading west in search of gold in the Colorado Rocky Mountains.
In addition to his determination, Byers also had faith, faith in himself and the city. When the gold dried up and disappointed prospectors loaded their equipment to return home, Byers insisted the city would survive and used his newspaper to taunt those who moved on, calling them "Gobacks!" Byers was right. The city prospered, and Byer's Rocky Mountain News survived, as well.
The Denver City/Auraria flood followed the typical Southwest pattern of drought followed by flood, and there is a logical reason why this pattern leads to flash floods. When a drought occurs the plants die and there are no trees, grass, weeds--roots--to absorb and hold the rain when the drought eases.
In 1862 and 1863, Colorado experienced a severe drought and strong spring winds raged down the mountains in early 1863, increasing the fire danger. According to Keith Wheeler's The Townsmen, at 3 a.m. on April 19, 1863 a heavily intoxicated man stumbled into the Cherokee Hotel and kicked over the wood-burning stove. The wind fed the flames that jumped from building to building for three hours transforming the main business section of the city into a pile of ash and rubble with damages totalling $350,000--a lot of money in 1863! The fire was not, however, enough to stop the proud, determined people of Denver who quickly rebuilt their town while young boys in the neighborhood picked through the rubble, searching for nails they could straighten, making as much as $10 a day selling the nails to those performing the reconstruction.
In 1864, the rains returned to Colorado with a vengeance. Day after day, massive thunderheads rolled across Colorado's Front Range filling the lakes, streams, ditches, and thirsty soil with rain until the entire area was so saturated it could no longer absorb one more drop. Denver received average rainfall and the people of the city were unprepared for what was to come.
On May 20, 1864, a wall of water barreled down Cherry Creek and smashed into Denver City and Auraria. The wall of water was filled with trees, brush, broken furniture, and human bodies. It crashed into the Rocky Mountain News building, which Byers had built in the middle of the creek on stilts in an attempt to show his loyalty to both competing towns. The flood waters shredded the structure like scissors on paper, destroying the 3000 pound steam-powered press William Byers brought with him from the East.
At the time of the flood, William Byers was at home with his wife and family. They were rescued by boat from the roof of their home by Byer's friend, Major John Chivington who later led the infamous Sand Creek Massacre, killing 163 Cheyenne women and children.
The estimated damages from the flood of 1864 was over a million dollars and 20 people lost their lives. Nevertheless, the City of Denver survived, just as Byers predicted, and once again, William Newton Byers and the Rocky Mountain News survived. Byers had steadily invested in other ventures over the years and used his financial gains to purchase a competitor's operation. The Rocky Mountain News continued to provide news to the people of Denver until February 27, 2009, when the last edition went to press and the newspaper closed its doors forever.
Deer in Kingsland, Texas. Photo by Darla Sue Dollman.
I've lived in Colorado most of my life, but I did spend around eight blissful years living in the gorgeous Texas Hill Country town of Kingsland. My home was round, with floor to ceiling windows and sliding doors. The house was on five acres of live oak trees with a running stream and forest land on all sides. It was like living in a fish bowl, but I was the fish with the wildlife staring at me through the glass day and night. It was an animal lover's dream.
About that time I started working on my family genealogy, trying to fill in spaces on an extensive piece of work belonging to my younger sister. I was surprised to learn that most of my ancestors originally lived in Texas. However, a few of my ancestors moved to Texas during the American Civil War to live on a piece of inherited land.
Because my great great (etc.) grandfather originally came from Ohio he was considered a possible threat to the minority of northern Texans who wanted Texas, which had just joined the United States, to secede from the Union and join the Confederacy. My ancestor was rounded up by a group of former Southern plantation owners who arrived in Texas around the same time trying to protect their old way of life, then murdered during The Great Hanging at Gainesville, a rather disturbing title for a deeply traumatizing event where 41 Texas residents were executed in an act of mob violence spurred on by the local press.
Unfortunately, this type of event was not uncommon in Texas because Texas was a wild place at that time where people often sought refuge when they were in trouble with the law or trying to run from their personal problems. When they left their homes for Texas family members marked the door GTT in chalk, which stands for Gone to Texas.
The entrance to Longhorn Caverns, a favorite hideout for outlaws in the Texas Hill Country located a few minutes from my former home. Photo by Darla Sue Dollman.
According to the Allen Heritage Guild Depot Museum's “Gone to Texas” exhibit, the phrase became popular around the 1840s, about the time that the Peters Colony Land Grant Company offered 640 acres of land to "heads of households and 320 acres to single men" in the to entice immigrant families to populate the Blackland Prairie of Texas. Contrary to the popular view of Texas as a desert land filled with cactus and cattle, Texas is actually known for its magnificent beauty. It contains 23 percent of the woodlands of the southern United States and thanks to Former President Lyndon B. Johnson's wife, "Ladybird Johnson," it is also known for its vast fields of wildflowers.
In addition to outlaws and its abundance of wildlife, Texas is also known for its massive spring blooms of Bluebonnets. Fields of blue everywhere you look entice visitors to the Hill Country each year. These were photographed at my former home. Photo by Darla Sue Dollman.
However, according to an article posted in Philadelphia's National Gazette (quoted from the original source contained in the collection of Kameron K. Searle) the phrase Gone to Texas was in use long before the 1840s. The article, dated December 29, 1825, discusses vacancies that needed to be filled in the Missouri legislature. According to the article, one of the vacancies was created by a Colonel Palmer who "is said to have taken French leave and gone to Texas." (French Leave meant to leave without permission, similar to the phrase "absent without leave" or "AWOL," a popular contemporary term borrowed from the American military).
I am unfamiliar with Colonel Palmer, but according to information in The Handbook of Texas Online it is possible that the reference to Palmer leaving for Texas was not meant as a compliment. The Handbook of Texas Online quotes from a book by Frederick Law Olmstead titled Journey Through Texas and published in 1857. In the book, Olmstead states that he is unsure of exactly when the phrase "Gone to Texas" acquired a negative context, but at some point in the 1800s the phrase came to mean that, unlike my ancestors who moved to collect an inheritance, the inhabitants of the home left for Texas for "some discreditable reason."
The Texas Handbook Online also quotes from the 1844 book GTT by Thomas Hughes who explains in the preface to his book that "When we want to say that it is all up with some fellow, we just say, `G.T.T.' as you'd say, `gone to the devil, or `gone to the dogs.'
Texas Longhorn near Llano, Texas. Photo by Darla Sue Dollman.
In addition to its reference to outlaws or troublemakers, the phrase also became synonymous with the idea that Texas was the place to be for those who were trying to start over, to start a new life. Since communication with families in other states was a challenge in the early 1800s, the phrase "Gone to Texas" or "GTT" was marked on front doors to notify family and friends who traveled from other parts of the country that the home's occupants moved to the former country of Texas (Texas became its own country in 1836 and became its own country in 1845).
Sources:
"Gone to Texas." Allen Heritage Guild Depot Museum. Uploaded April, 2015. Accessed November 11, 2015.
"GTT,"Handbook of Texas Online , accessed November 15, 2015. Uploaded on June 15, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
The return of Casey's scouts. Soldiers plow through the ice and snow following the massacre at Wounded Knee, South Dakota in 1890.Photo part of the National Archives and Records Administration/Public Domain.
Oh Zintkala Nuni, precious Little Lost Bird, since I first read your story I have cried so many tears for you, a miracle, a gift to your people who all stopped to admire you when you were born, feeling grateful to have someone so lovely among them. Your true name is lost forever, but your memory lives on in the hearts of those who still fight for justice for the victims of the Wounded Knee Massacre and your ancestors.
Zintkala Nuni, the Little Lost Bird of Wounded Knee.
Your family was massacred and you seemed to survive, but no one can survive an experience such as yours and after years of suffering the worst pain imaginable--the knowledge of what was done to your family and the horrific story of how you survived--you finally joined them.
It is my hope that you have also, finally found peace.
US Attorney General Eric Holder laying a wreath at the site of the Wounded Knee Memorial. Photo taken September 26, 2009/Public Domain.
I have spent the past year struggling with the painful loss of members of my family and a writers block that I began to think I would not break! This post is an attempt to jump start my writing, as well as to complete my participation in last years A to Z Bloggers Challenge. Here I will discuss one of the few survivors of the Wounded Knee Massacre: Zintkala Nuni, or Little Lost Bird, how she suffered through the loss of her mother, her extended family, most of her tribe, and what little self-respect she had left after she was found in a ditch following the massacre at Wounded Knee.
I wish I could offer you a happy ending with the story of this child who miraculously survived the Wounded Knee Massacre, but out of respect for this child and her family I can only share the cold and bitter truth, a story of terror and unimaginable horror that will break your heart, as it should.
The bodies of four Lakota Sioux, victims of the Wounded Knee Massacre. Photo taken three weeks after the massacre circa January 17, 1891. Photo is public domain.
Zintkala Nuni, The Little Lost Bird of Wounded Knee
What is your earliest memory? A birthday party with cupcakes and friends? Falling asleep in your father's arms? Imagine lying beneath the body of your dead mother on the bloody snow in a South Dakota field for four days. No comfort for your fear, no food, too terrified to make a sound and no one to hear you even if you did cry. These were the early memories of Zintkala Nuni, Little Lost Bird.
Zintkala Nuni, or Little Lost Bird, was born somewhere on the prairies of South Dakota in the spring of 1890. She was a victim of the Wounded Knee Massacre. Some call this event the Battle of Wounded Knee, others believe it is more accurately described as attempted genocide. The Massacre at Wounded Knee occurred on December 29, 1890, on the Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
Wounded Knee, Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota, USA Entrance gate to cemetery, and the location of the Hotchkiss gun used during the Wounded Knee Massacre. It is also the location of the mass grave for the Lakota Sioux massacre victims, including Little Lost Bird's mother. Photo by Napa, taken during the summer of 1997.
Guns, Fear, a Stray Shot and Panic Leads to Tragedy for Little Lost Bird
It is believed that the Wounded Knee Massacre began when a deaf Lakota named Black Coyote refused to hand over his gun to soldiers of the U.S. Seventh Cavalry who were instructed to disarm the Lakota living on the reservation. (For more information, read the previous set of posts on this event below.)
Three Hotchkiss Rapid Fire Guns used at the Wounded Knee Massacre. Photo part of the John C.H. Grabill Collection, Library of Congress. Public Domain.
A shot was fired during the scuffle and the soldiers started firing on all men, women, and children, including the unarmed women trying desperately to save their families by running for any shelter they could find. Later, their dead children were found held tight and frozen stiff in the arms of their mothers as they lay together in the snow.
The mass grave of Lakota Sioux victims of the Wounded Knee Massacre. Photo in public domain.
What was the mother of Little Lost Bird thinking as she crawled through the freezing air to the river bank and lay dying in the snow? Like any mother, she thought only of her child. She moved slowly through the damp cold trying not to attract attention, searching for the only shelter to be found on the frozen prairie, near the banks of the river, where she could hide from the gunfire and possibly save her child. Exhausted, and with little life left in her body, she lay on top of the child, hoping to both hide her from the soldiers and keep the baby warm. The child lay beneath her for four days, protected by the dirt wall, snow mounds, and her mother's frozen body. By the time she was rescued she was likely close to dying. No one knew her real name, so she was called the Little Lost Bird of the Wounded Knee Massacre.
Survivors of the Wounded Knee Massacre, 1891. John C. H. Grabill Collection/public domain.
A Life Saved and Peace Denied
Following the massacre the news of the atrocity spread quickly around the world and many people were appalled by what they heard of the events at Wounded Knee. The story of Little Lost Bird may have provided some with hope--there were few survivors--but most people were sickened by the thought of a helpless baby lying for days beneath her mother's frozen body.
Portrait of General L. W. Colby of Nebraska State Troops holding Zintkala Nuni: Little Lost Bird who he adopted after a bitter custody battle when she was found on the Wounded Knee
Battlefield, South Dakota, 1890. Public domain/photographer unknown.
As her story spread across the country Little Lost Bird was moved from one family to another in a different sort of battle, a custody fight. She was finally given to General Leonard Colby of the National Guard, future Assistant Attorney General of the United States, who posed proudly for photographs showing the child in his arms. Unfortunately for him General Colby failed to inform his wife, Clara Bewick Colby, that he adopted the child.
Clara Bewick Colby, wife of General Colby, circa 1880s/Public Domain.
Clara was a suffragist, activist, lecturer, publisher, and writer, and she happily took on the role of mother to Little Lost Bird. She later expressed her belief that her husband had kidnapped the child in order to draw clients to his law practice, to exploit her even further. Leonard Colby's intentions were far from honorable. He later abandoned Clara and Zintkala Nuni to start a relationship with Little Lost Bird's governess. Clara Colby and Little Lost Bird struggled to survive, and when she was 17, Zintkala Nuni ran away from home. She was recovered and sent to live with her father and his new wife, then discovered she was pregnant and was sent to a reformatory. Her child was stillborn and she returned to live with her adopted mother, Clara Colby. Clara Colby testified in court that Zintkala Nuni was sexually abused by her former husband, General L. W. Colby, while she was living in his home with his second wife.
Clara Bewick Colby. Photographer unknown/Public Domain.
The Little Lost Bird Leaves her Nest
Zintkala Nuni returned to South Dakota on numerous occasions seeking information about her family and any possible surviving relatives. She married briefly, then discovered she had contracted syphilis. They did have children together--two died, and she gave one of her children away. She eventually ended up in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. According to author Renee Sansom Flood, Zinkala Nuni also appeared in silent films and Vaudeville. It is possible she worked as a prostitute on occasion in order to survive. She continued searching for her family and desperately seeking peace, but there would be no answers or peace for the Little Lost Bird. On February 14, 1919, Valentine's Day of her 29th year, the Little Lost Bird of Wounded Knee died of influenza while in California.
Zintkala Nuni appeared in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and in silent films, but succumbed to alcoholism at the age of 29.
After her death, Zintkala Nuni, the Little Lost Bird of Wounded Knee, became a symbol of the oppression of her people and the terrible events that occurred at Wounded Knee, South Dakota.
In July of 1991, the remains of Zintkala Nuni were moved from her burial site in California and reinterred near the mass grave where the rest of her people were buried. According to Eric Harrison writing forThe New York Times, Zintkala Nuni was buried with a photograph of her adopted mother, Clara Bewick Colby, on her coffin, along with an Indian blanket. The burial ceremony was conducted in both Lakota and English and leaders of her people in attendance purified the gravesite with sage and by planting cherry trees, a symbolic tree of life.
Sources:
D. Dana. Zintkala Nuni Lost Bird. Find A Grave. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
Flood, Renee Sansom. Lost Bird of Wounded Knee: Spirit of the Lakota. Da Capo Press: 1998.
Harrison, Eric. "A Girl Called 'Lost Bird' Is Finally at Rest : History: Lakota infant survived Wounded Knee killing and was adopted by whites. Now she is buried among her people." Los Angeles Times. Posted July 13, 1991. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
Mammoth Hot Springs: Yellowstone National Park/Public Domain
It is home to grizzly bears, wolves, huge herds of bison and elk and the world's largest collection of natural geysers. It is one of the last nearly intact natural ecosystems in the world. It was America's first national park, established in 1872, making it all-around unique.
Once called Roche Jaune (Yellow Rock) by French trappers, it is now known as Yellowstone National Park, a wonderland beyond compare. It is also on a dormant volcano, a volcano overdue for an explosion, a volcano many people believe could destroy most of North America at any time, which in my opinion just adds to its mystique!
Yellowstone National Park was established as a National Park by the US Congress in 1872 in an effort to preserve its unique geothermic features and protect the wildlife. This mystical, magical park consists of 3,468 square miles of shimmering lakes and raging rivers, towering mountain ranges, and deep canyons.
It is on top of a volcano, which is the cause of the large amounts of geothermic activity including 300 geysers; hot springs; mud pots; and fumaroles (openings in the planet's crust emitting steam and gas). It has two of the most famous geysers in the world--Old Faithful and Steamboat Springs.
It is also home to 50 animal species; 311 bird species; 18 fish species; six reptile species; four amphibian species; and five endangered or threatened species. It is like a combination biopark and wildlife refuge!
Old Faithful in Yellowstone at its peak of eruption. Photo by Debeo Morium.
Since its early discovery, Yellowstone has endured rumors of hauntings, as well as accusations that its very existence was a rumor. When trappers and explorers first reported its existence the public reaction was that nothing so fantastic could possibly exist, but to this day it continues to inspire artists and leave tourists with a sense of wonder and awe beyond compare.
Yellowstone's Wild West History
Why is Yellowstone National Park a part of the Wild West? In order to understand its historical importance we have to go back to the early explorers and mountain men who reported Yellowstone's magnificent beauty.
Close your eyes for a moment and imagine yourself as the first trapper or explorer to see these incredible natural wonders. You might even question your own sanity!
Early Reports
According to PBS.org's National Parks, the first reports of Yellowstone came from explorers such as John Colter, who was actually a respected member of the original Lewis and Clark expedition, but when he tried to explain that he had found a magical place in the northwest corner of Wyoming territory where "mud boiled, water spouted, and steam came out of the ground" Colter was mocked and humiliated, and Yellowstone was referred to jokingly as "Colter's Hell."
The famous trapper, law enforcement officer and politician Joe Meek also saw Yellowstone and reported his findings to the public. His stories were also dismissed. Trapper Jim Bridger said there were canyons so deep that a man could shout into its depths at night before he went to sleep and be awakened by the echo of his voice the following morning, and his report was also dismissed as the exaggerations of a storyteller.
However, the intense, mysterious beauty described by these men was too great to ignore. A series of expeditions were planned and financed in order to confirm the rumors of these early mountain man explorers. If you've visited Yellowstone National Park, follow along with the descriptions of these expeditions and see if you recognize any of these names:
Yellowstone Expedition
An early frontier expedition was first authorized by US Secretary of War John C. Calhoun in order to establish a military fort near Bismarck, North Dakota where the Yellowstone River begins.
This early expedition is often referred to as the Atkinson-Long Expedition and is credited with establishing Fort Atkinson in Nebraska, which was the first US Army post west of the Missouri. Unfortunately, the fort was considered a failure due to its extreme cost.
Cook-Folsom-Peterson Expedition
The first organized expedition of Yellowstone National Park took place in 1869 and was privately funded by David E. Folsom, Charles W. Cook, and William Peterson of Diamond City, Montana. The group kept carefully-detailed journals of their trip, which proved to be invaluable to the expeditions that followed.
Cook, Folsom and Peterson left Diamond City, Montana on September 6, 1869 traveling up the Missouri River to Three Forks, Montana. At Three Forks they started on foot up the Gallatin Valley making a brief stop to resupply in Bozeman on September 8. They made camp at the base of Bozeman Pass four miles east of Fort Ellis and two days later started over the pass then down Trail Creek reaching the Yellowstone River near Emigrant Gulch.
The men followed the river into what is now the region of Yellowstone National Park on September 13, 1869, entering where Gardner and Yellowstone Rivers converge. They crossed Gardiner then traveled along the west side of Yellowstone to Tower Fall where they crossed the Yellowstone River to explore the Lamar Valley. They returned to Yellowstone traveling West into the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.
The men then turned south and were forced to cross the Yellowstone River twice before reaching Yellowstone Lake near Pelican Creek. They continued to follow the western shore of the lake to West Thumb, then crossed the Continental Divide, emerging on the north side of Shoshone Lake. There they turned northwest, crossed the Divide again and traveled down Firehole River to the geyser basins. Can you imagine the sights that greeted them there!
The group followed Firehole River and Madison River to exit the Yellowstone Park area near what is now the town of West Yellowstone on October 3, 1869, but their trip was not over. The continued to follow the Madison River through the Madison Canyon and into Virginia City, Montana. They ended their expedition on October 11, 1869 when they returned to Diamond City, Montana after 36 days of hard travel.
The Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition
In 1863, engineer Walter De Lacy created a map of Yellowstone using journal notes from the previous expedition, and one year later a second expedition of nine men left to verify the information of the first expedition--apparently such great beauty was still believed too good to be true, but this is America, where great natural beauty is found in abundance.
Henry D. Washburn, a surveyor from Montana, was made the captain of the expedition into Yellowstone. Photo in public domain.
One year after the last expedition nine men decided to defy the warnings of their families and friend--and the Crow, who believed the land was haunted by angry spirits--and set out to prove the existence of these magical geysers; pools of boiling color; and mountains that appeared to be made of glass.
The men were shockingly unprepared for such an expedition--middle-aged businessmen including merchants; a bank president; and a lawyer; a county assessor--but they had determination on their side. They decided Henry D. Washburn, a surveyor from Montana, would be their captain, and the expedition began.
An IRS collector, Nathaniel P. Langford, was the first to begin the adventure, riding ahead to request protection from Lt. Gustavus C. Doane of the United States Cavalry.
Doane later wrote an account of the expedition in his diary and descriptions of what the men found. A post from 1870 reads, "fairy-like, yet solid mound of rock growing up amid clouds of steam and showers of boiling water...the period of this geyser is fifty minutes. First an increased rush of steam comes forth followed instantly by a rising jet of water which attains...the height of one hundred and twenty-five feet."
The men succeeded and the detailed journal accounts of their expedition inspired the United States Congress to fund the next expedition, a more "official" expedition led by Dr. Ferdinand V. Hayden.
The Hayden Expedition
In 1871, the Hayden Geological Survey was federally funded to explore and document the Yellowstone region. Led by Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden, the expedition led to the passage of legislation establishing Yellowstone as the country's first National Park.
The expedition began in 1894 and was a bit different from previous expeditions because it was federally funded with $40,000 by the Pacific Railroad Survey, a bill passed by congress in 1853 with the intention of finding the most efficient routes for railroad travel from the Mississippi to the Pacific.
The Hayden Expedition, as you will see, was much more extensive, and included explorers, engineers, scientists, topographers, and artists to document the area and included famous experts, such as John Wesley Powell; Clarence King; and George Wheeler.
On June 8, 1871, the Hayden Expedition left Ogden, Utah traveling north to Taylor's Bridge on the Snake River, which they reached on June 25. Five days later the party reached Montana and camped near Monida Pass near the Continental Divide. Following the path of earlier expeditions, they moved into Virginia City, Montana on July 4, 1871 then Fort Ellis near Bozeman on July 10, 1871. Unfortunately, their botanist, George Alle, and entomologist, Cyrus Thomas, were both forced to leave the expedition at this time due to health issues.
The group resupplied and coordinated their efforts with the US Army at Fort Ellis then started out once more on July 15, moving along the Yellowstone River. They met up with another expeditionary group--the Barlow-Heap Expedition--and traveled together for 45 days. Colonel Barlow was the Chief Engineer for General Sheridan and was sent into Yellowstone on orders from the US Army.
They survey team moved alongside the Yellowstone River until they reached Paradise Valley, then realized the trail was impassable and they would have to leave their supply wagons behind. They established a base camp near Emigrant Gulch for communications where they left the wagons and headed for Yankee Jim Canyon on July 20, 1871.
Hayden Expedition Map of Yellowstone, 1871/Public Domain
The Hayden Survey Expedition didn't actually enter the park region until July 21, 1871 when they arrived at the Gardner River and traveled to Mammoth Hot Springs. They remained at the hot springs for two days. There they discovered two men--J.C. McCartney and H.R. Horr--claimed 320 acres as their own and had already established a ranch and bath house near Liberty Cap. The men were eventually evicted when Yellowstone became a National Park.
The Hayden team left Mammoth on July 24 traveling along Mammoth-Tower road past Undine Falls and Wraith Falls on Lupine Creek. They reached Tower Creek the following day, then spent three days exploring Mount Washburn and the western edge of the Yellowstone River in what is now known as Hayden Valley in order to locate the source of the Yellowstone. They camped at Cascade Creek and W.H. Jackson took the first known photographs of Yellowstone Falls.
Four days later, members of the Hayden expedition carved oars from trees and built a boat, which they called Annie, the first known boat to sail the Yellowstone Lake and explore the islands. The first trip was made by James Stevenson and Henry Elliot to what is now known as Stevenson Island.
While some team members stayed behind to continue documenting the area, Hayden and other members of the survey team left on July 31, 1871, to head back into Hayden Valley then west into the geyser basins of the Madison River. They reached the Nez Perce and traveled six miles from Firehole River then spent two more days in the Lower, Midway, and Upper Geyser Basin. They left the area on August 6, 1871, following Firehole River back to Madison Lake then over the Continental Divide to Shoshone Lake where they established camp at Lost Lake near the West Thumb area of Yellowstone Lake. They remained in this area for two days to document their findings while some members of their military escort returned to Fort Ellis to deliver specimens.
For the next ten days the Hayden Survey party traveled along the south and east sides of Yellowstone Lake and crossed the Continental Divide numerous times in their exploration of the Yellowstone River. They arrived at Steamboat Point on August 19, 1871 and camped near Turbid Lake, then returned to Yellowstone River. While there, the men experienced two extreme earthquakes lasting 20 seconds or more, but long enough to leave them in a state of shock as they watched the trees shake and bend and the horses leap to their feet and try to run. They documented three aftershocks.
Poor Annie was taken apart on August 23, 1871 (wouldn't she have made a great museum exhibition!) and the Hayden party move northeast to Pelican Creek then on to Mirror Lake. The following morning they followed the Lamar River to Soda Butte Creek where they camped for the night. On August 25, 1871, they crossed into the Lamar Valley and traveled to Baronette Bridge.
It was about this time that one of the men, Truman C. Everts, became separated from the expedition and lost along the Yellowstone River. A Helena prospector, John C. Baronett, helped the man return to the expedition. After he rescued Everts, Baronett went on to construct a pack train bridge across the Yellowstone above the Lamar River--the first bridge across the Yellowstone. Hayden named a nearby peak Baronett Peak in honor of the work of the compassionate prospector.
On August 26, 1871, the survey party left the park region and camped north of Gardiner on the Yellowstone, then met up with the rest of their group at Bottler's Ranch to post a report of their progress. They spent two days traveling back to Fort Ellis and six days recuperating from the long expedition while they prepared their correspondence and shipped specimens for documentation. The party then traveled on the Union Pacific Railroad to Fort Bridger and on October 2, 1871, Hayden officially declared that the expedition was concluded and the group disbanded.
Yellowstone National Park, which is primarily located in the state of Wyoming, but extends into Montana and Idaho, as well, was established and signed into law by American President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872.
"We trace the creation of the park from the Folsom-Cook expedition of 1869 to the Washburn expedition of 1870, and thence to the Hayden expedition (U. S. Geological Survey) of 1871, Not to one of these expeditions more than to another do we owe the legislation which set apart this "pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people." --Nathaniel P. Langford, Yellowstone National Park's first park superintendent and a member of the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition
Yellowstone: The First National Park, Full Vintage Documentary
Sources:
"History and Culture." Yellowstone National Park. National Park Service. Retrieved July 7, 2014.
"Timeline." Yellowstone History. Yellowstone.net. Retrieved July 7, 2014.
"Yellowstone." The National Parks: America's Best Idea. Film by Ken Burns. PBS.org. Retrieved October 1, 2014.
I did not know that! The controversial fires that struck Yellowstone National Park in 1988 affected 793,880 acres, which accounts for 36 percent of the park's lands. This natural disaster consisted of five fires that actually burned into the park from nearby public lands. The largest fire--North Fork Fire--burned more than 410,000 acres and was started by a single discarded cigarette.
Dove, a symbol of peace, photographed in Rio Rancho, New Mexico.
Photo by Darla Sue Dollman.
"The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize at the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit, and that its center is really everywhere.
It is within each of us."
--Black Elk, Black Elk Speaks by John G. Neihardt, 1932
Horsetooth Mountain, one of the most famous landmarks in Northern Colorado. Photo by Darla Sue Dollman.
Just a short note to let you know I am moving, which explains the long delay in posts--selling, buying, and moving to another state is a time-consuming process, but by the end of the week I will be living in a small town in Northern Colorado
I will be living closer to my family and friends and where I also attended and taught at the local universities. I lived in Colorado most of my life. I love Colorado and I am fascinated by its wild west history. If you notice a change in my posts, a few more focusing on mining towns, ghost towns, and the history of Colorado, now you know why!
There is still so much about the Wild West that I haven't even touched on, such as mining, logging, the early explorers, and the far western states such as California, Oregon and Washington.
If you study a particular topic regarding the Old West and would like to guest blog or trade guest blogs, please contact me at dsdollman@yahoo.com.
Cowboys at Escarbada Bunkhouse at the XIT Ranch, 1891. Image from the Portal to Texas History.
Moving closer to the end of the alphabetical journey through the American Old West, we will take a short break from Wounded Knee to examine the XIT Ranch for the letter X, then return briefly to Wounded Knee for yet another terribly painful story starting with Z for Zintkala Nuni, the little girl found four days after the massacre beneath the body of her mother. Let's take a breath, though, first, and a look at a 3,000,000 acre cattle ranch, the XIT Ranch.
XIT Ranch Office Plaque. Photo taken in Channing, Texas by Billy Hathorn (who quite often makes his photos of the Old West available for use for educational purposes. Thank you Mr. Hathorn!)
In the 1880s, the XIT was the largest ranch in the world, and believe it or not, it was completely fenced, too. Three million acres stretched out from the "Yellow House" headquarters to Lubbock, Texas. The ranch land resembled a strip that was only 30 miles wide with the remainder of the ranch in its length. It had pieces in ten different counties--Dallam, Hartley, Oldham, Deaf Smith, Parmer, Castro, Bailey, Lamb, Cochran, and Hockley--and according to the XIT Museum many people believed this was the reason for the name, that XIT stood for Ten in Texas. In fact, XIT was a brand chosen because it would be difficult for rustlers to imitate.
So, where did this ranch come from? How did a ranch this size possibly get started? It was a trade! The Texas State Capital Building in Austin was too small to handle the business for all of Texas and to make matters worse, it suffered from a terrible fire on November 9, 1881, destroying most of its structure. Purely by coincidence, just two years earlier, in 1879, Governor Oran M. Roberts called a Special Legislative Session to discuss the matter. The Texas Constitutional Convention had already set aside 3,000,000 acres in the Texas Panhandle to help pay for a new capital building. After the fire, Charles B. and John V. Farwell, brothers from Chicago, agreed to buy the 3,000,000 acres for exactly $3,000,000.
This lovely photo of the Texas State Capital at 1100 Congress Ave. in Austin, Texas was taken by photographer Roger heslop. The building is made of red granite and is still one of the largest state capitols in North America, second in size only to the US Capitol in Washington, D.C. according to the XIT Museum. It's dome stands seven feet higher than the US Capitol's dome.
The corrals, foreman's house and bunkhouses were built at the Springs in Dallam County and still remain as the oldest structures in Dallam County, Texas. The first cattle--mostly Longhorns--arrived on the XIT ranch in 1885. At one point the ranch had over 150,000 head of cattle! They were well-contained within the 1500 miles of fence. The ranch also had 325 windmills and 100 dams to regulate the water supply.
They also had strict rules for their many employees, including no alcohol allowed on the premises; no gambling or card playing; no hunting of wild game using any ranch horses; no non-ranch horses allowed on the ranch (which would just about cover any of the previous listed activities as the employees could not leave the ranch); and no employee-owned weapons.
A gorgeous Texas Longhorn grazing among the bluebonnets outside Kingsland, Texas. Photo by Darla Sue Dollman.
With a ranch of this size you may wonder why we don't hear more about it! Because sadly, it didn't last long. With a ranch that size it was difficult, if not impossible to thwart cattle rustlers and predators, such as wolves. The ranch was actually syndicated, and when the cattle market crashed in 1886 the Farwell brothers were forced to sell off large parcels of land to repay investors.
Edited to add: While researching my next post I found a note stating that in the late 1880s the XIT Ranch added 15,000 square miles of Montana land to its Texas holdings (remember it was syndicated) then established a trail between the two properties through seven states--now that's a cattle trail!
Resources:
Anderson, Allen H. "XIT Ranch."Texas State Historical Association. Accessed December 2, 2013.
Forbis, William H. The Old West: The Cowboys. Time Life Books. Canada:1974.
"Thumbnail History of the XIT Ranch." XIT Museum Website. Accessed December 2, 2013.
"XIT Ranch." Story of the Great American West. Reader's Digest Association, Inc. New York: 1977.
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